11.27.2012

Traveling!

I’m typing this as we are in the car traveling with Knox & Sloane. (I wrote this last Tuesday night, although it's now a week later when I'm posting ;) We’ve taken several trips..... with them and they’ve done relatively well. One of the trips, Knox’s skin was flared so that was a bit stressful, but we got through it.

We’ve been on a trip when I was nursing, while we were doing bottles and now while they are eating food. I will say, probably bottles and real food seem to be the hardest, naturally. With bottles, the only pain was just washing them up in the hotel room. With food, since Knox & Sloane are gluten free and as organic as I can get them, it means we do have to take quite a bit with us or get it when we get there. It actually didn’t seem too stressful at all because my cousin offered to get all the perishables at the store so I didn’t have to do an ice chest or anything!

When they were just starting out on foods, we took the Bumbos with trays and used those as high chairs in the hotel room. We would just set them right on the floor and I would sit down and feed them. That worked great for us. I even did that for a while at home! Now that they are older, I decided I would go ahead and get some booster seats. I figured we could start using these around the dinner table since right now they are on the kitchen island. I had intended to get a $15-$25 booster chair, but Target was out of both and so I ended up with the $39.99 First Years Deluxe Reclining Seats. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, though. These do have a higher weight limit and you can convert it several ways. I'm adding this in now that we are home from our trip and they really worked out great! Knox & Sloane did great in them and they were easy to clean up.

For bibs, I typically use the same one for every meal, and wash it in between, but for traveling, I picked up these Bibsters disposable bibs. I really liked them! I don't have to use a new one for every meal even. Usually they can make it through two meals.

For food, I basically just write down three meals of the day and brainstorm what they will eat to make sure I have enough..as well as the list I gave my cousin.

They each have their own pack and play and have done well sleeping in them. This will be the first time since we were in Dallas, in June, that they will be sleeping in them, so hopefully they still do good!

As for wipes and diapers, pack what you think you will need. The nice thing about those is that you can always pick some up at the store! I always overestimate because I figure it's easier to have extra than it is to make a trip to the store!

That’s the nice thing about all of it really….as long as you don’t need it as soon as you arrive, you can get it when you get there, but some things you don’t want to be duplicates, of course.

Like right now, we put the babies in the car at bedtime, so when we get there we will put them directly in the bed and turn the sound machine on. They are in their jammies and ready to go. Therefore, had we forgotten the sound machine, we would be making a trip to a 24 hour Wal-Mart or using our phones all night.

My advice is to make a checklist.

If you don’t have a easy-to-access washer & dryer, take extra clothes & sheets…in case they pee pee through. Knock on wood, Sloane has never leaked, but every now and then, Knox will.
When I got in the car, after Brent loaded things, I said, “wow, we have a lot of room left.” I didn’t expect we would have any. I think we got the perfect car as far as space and traveling and I didn’t overpack. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have options on clothes and food, but I have the essentials for everything else.

3 comments
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We registered for those very same feeding seats and got them at one of our showers, and our twins still use them EVERYDAY!! They are on kitchen chairs, and we just don't use the trays anymore - just scoot them right up to the table!